Artist Statement

Chaos causes destruction, panic, and hopelessness. The theme of this body of work is chaos caused by a nation’s leader with ill-intentions. This body of work consists of three artworks: a print, sculpture, and painting. Each artwork represents this theme in its own individual way. Throughout the process of this body of work, my understanding of this theme has increased with the depth of my research on this topic. I have learned about other artists with similar themes such as Ai Wei Wei, and have learned about the history of First Nations and the Canadian Government. This body of work is meant to represent the knowledge and understanding i have learned of symbolism, principles of elements and design, and also of working with new mediums.

Mahak Naz “Obliterate the Earth” 2017

The silk-screen ink print is the most direct artwork of my body of work. The symbolism and placement of the objects makes the theme more obvious then the other artworks. The king sits atop of the earth that is on fire and is caged -the leader stays unaffected of the misery that he/she have inflicted upon the innocent and the people are trapped in a state of destruction as they do not know how to save themselves. At this point, research was done to a minimum amount and the idea was somewhat cliche.

The second artwork that is in the body of work is made of plaster. Each hand was molded by the use of a clay mold, and then was painted with an acrylic “wash” (watered down paint) to give the effect of a stained-look. Each block in this sculpture has a different skin tone -to represent different races and diversity. They are also individually shaped to give the idea of individuality of people. The hands painted with the colors of the medicine wheel represent the situation of the increased rape cases in First Nations women. This artwork has much more depth and symbolism in it. This artwork was made on the hopes to raise awareness among people of the effects of the Canadian government’s treatment of Native Indian women. The sculpture and the idea helped me apply my theme and make connections to a real situation that is among our society.

The final artwork in my body of work is an acrylic painting of a horse running down a long road, and being engulfed by a storm of dust. This artwork holds symbolism as the horse represents freedom, purity, and life, while the storm represents chaos, destruction, and complete annihilation. Through this artwork, I was able to change my perspective on my theme and create more depth by the use of a different approach to symbolism. This artwork contained more nature-related situations instead of man-made situations. The dust storm contains the elements of unruliness and is widespread to show the unreliability and unpredictability of a ruler. Overall, this body of work has changed my perspective on how to incorporate a theme into my artworks through use of research, symbolism, and real life situations.